1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicular climate control systems generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel integrated switch pad-aspirated sensor shroud for vehicular climate control systems and method of manufacturing.
2. Background Art
Automatic climate control systems are provided in most vehicles to adjust the interior temperature by controlling heating and cooling systems. Both the heating and cooling features have the usually beneficial effect of removing moisture from the interior environment to reduce humidity and prevent fogging of interior window surfaces. Such control systems often utilize an aspirated sensor to determine the vehicle interior temperature. This enables the climate control system to adjust itself based on the desired temperature set on the control head. Such vehicular climate control systems typically employ a thermistor as a sensing element and motorized means for drawing vehicle interior (or cabin) air across the thermistor to sense the temperature of the air in the cabin of the vehicle to allow an accurate temperature reading. In many cases, motorized means/aspirated sensor combination is used for this purpose and is incorporated directly into the control head which is mounted in the dashboard oft the vehicle.
In the past, positioning of the thermistor has been accomplished by soldering the thermistor or thermistor assembly to the switch or keyboard assembly, with the fan motor electrically and mechanically connected to the main circuit board assembly of the control assembly. With this method, ducting is provided so that air drawn by the fan will flow over the thermistor. Usually, this includes ducting to funnel the air from a larger orifice to a small cross-sectional area at the thermistor location on the switch circuit board. The typical method of providing such ducting is to use separate molded plastic parts that are assembled to the control or to use complex molding methods to integrate the ducted passage into other plastic pieces of the control. Some conventional control elements require side-core or collapsible-core tools to form the air directing channels. Also required is a shroud between the switch circuit board and the control assembly trimplate, which shroud is fabricated by similar methods. The primary disadvantage of the conventional methods is relatively high piece price, due to additional, separate tooling and added assembly time.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide ducting for a temperature control element in a climate control system, which ducting does not require the use of individual, separate parts.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such ducting that is integral with the switch pad employed in climate control systems.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide such integral ducting that is economical to manufacture using modified conventional tooling that is otherwise used to produce the switch pad.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.